PremiumAce badminton player PV Sindhu clinches the bronze medal for India after defeating China's He Bing Jiao 21-13 21-15 in the third place play-off at Musashino Forest Plaza on Sunday.
With this, Sindhu becomes the first Indian woman to win two individual medals at Olympics. Wrestler Sushil Kumar is the first and only other Indian to win two Olympic medals, following up his bronze at 2008 Beijing with a silver at the London edition.
"PV Sindhu becomes the first Indian woman to win medals in two Olympic games. She has set a new yardstick of consistency, dedication and excellence. My heartiest congratulations to her for bringing glory to India," tweeted President Ram Nath Kovind congratulating the shuttler.
The 26-year-old silver-medallist from the Rio Games' hopes of securing India's first-ever Olympic gold in badminton came crashing down as she slumped to a straight-game defeat against world no.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the women's singles semifinals on Saturday.
Up against an opponent, who has beaten her nine times so far in the last 15 meetings, Sindhu showed great determination to outplay Bing Jiao with her aggression to scoop India's third medal at Tokyo.
Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has already gone back after collecting a silver, while boxer Lovlina Borgohain is assured of at least bronze so far.
With this win, the sixth seeded Sindhu also made up for the straight-game loss to world no.1 Tai Tzu Ying in the semifinals on Saturday.
One of the most consistent players, who has claimed medals in all big-ticket events in the last five years, Sindhu couldn't counter Tai Tzu's deception with her aggressive game, going down 18-21 12-21 here.
It was Sindhu's 14th loss to the Taiwanese second seed in 19 meetings, having also lost to her in the last three face-offs.
On Thursday, Sindhu had notched up a straight-game triumph over Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt, 13th seed, in the pre-quarterfinals.
She was the lone Indian in fray in badminton after men's singles player B Sai Praneeth and men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy failed to qualify for the knockout stage.
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